Composting??

[Shmoopie]

Please pardon my total ignorance on this subject, but what can anyone tell me about composting? I saw the earlier thread about composting for the garden in this section, and I've read little bits about it here and there, but I actually don't know much about it at all. Shouldn't I have at least learned about this in school???? Weird. Anyway...

Do you need to use leaves or some type of plant waste, or can you just use food scraps and nothing else? What's the difference between using leaves and such vs. not using them? Does it need to be buried, or do you make a pile, or what? Can it be done in the winter (I live in Michigan)?? What is the purpose, other than helping the garden? Seriously, shouldn't I have learned about this in school? LOL

Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all :)

[Tom]

Hi

Ann Wigmore has a good section on composting in her book (The Wheatgrass Book). I have been composting for a while and it does eliminate buying potting soil. The procedure is simple but must be followed exactly. You must drill holes two inches apart in a trash barrel which takes about an hour and then put down a layer of wheatgrass mats or soil followed by a layer of kitchen vegatable scraps and then another layer of mats or soil. You then add earth worms and after that keep layering with soil and scraps but no more earthworms. After a few months the scraps will be converted to a very light airy compost which works well. Keep the layers about an inch thick and don't put the scraps at the very edge. I have never had an odor and Ann even kept hers in the kitchen.

Good luck
Tom

[JGex]

Any non-animal parts organic matter is good for the compost pile. Cow, rabbit, horse, and goat manure is great, though. Leaves, kitchen scraps, grass clippings, and non-infested garden waste are all great.

The compost heap needs sun/heat to really work well, and layering is how most folk do it. The heap needs to be turned & aerated every so often, too. The resulting product is one way to help condition your soil for gardening. It supplies nutrients, helps break up clay soils, and enriches sandy soils. No self-respecting organic gardener would be caught without a compost pile!

A google search for "composting process" turns up a wealth of info: http://tinyurl.com/ydoofb

And if you don't garden much, you can take the resulting compost and fill low spots in your yard, or mix with potting soil for containers. Or give bags to your friends who do garden!

[Shmoopie]

Thanks you two :)

[solarliving]

What if you live in an apartment? Is there anything I can do with my compost?

[sport]

What if you live in an apartment? Is there anything I can do with my compost?

Yes there is a composter that you can use in an appartment.
There was a link posted to it here on another thread.
It looked realy nice. I will try to find it.

[sport]

All of the instructions given here seem very complicated.
Over here composting is commonplace even among people who have no care for the environment because we pay by weight to have our refuse collected so it is cheaper to compost.
We go to the hardware store and buy a plastic composter which is open at the bottom and has a lid on the top.
We throw all our raw food waste and leaves and such in to it. We do not add worms or aireate or turn it. The worms come up from the ground naturally and do their work. We leave them alone and just keep adding.
I have a lot of fruit and veg waste but think that I will never fill that container up.

[tvillemom]

Sport, does this plastic composter have a name??? I'd like to check my hardware store, while I still have some Christmas money to spend....
Wendi

[sport]

Shortcut to: http://www.naturemill.com/index.html

[garden granny]

save your fruits and vegetable scraps, I put mine in a pot with a lid and then take then out to the compost pile about once a week. Just start a pile with scraps, some dirt, some leaves, grass clippings, pine straw, hay, whatever - I have scraps, dirt, and leaves in mine. Pile it up to around 4 feet high, cover it if you can with black plastic to keep it warm. Turn it about once every 2 weeks or so. It will break down into black earthy smelling compost. You will also have lots of earth worms in it. That's a good thing. I usually get 2 to 3 piles going.